Commonly, automotive dealerships and service centers offer a number of services and products to its customers. For example, a typical automotive dealership may sell new, used, factory direct, and certified pre-owned vehicles, including cars, trucks, or house and garden vehicles, directly to consumers. Service centers may offer a wide range of services regarding the inspection and repair of vehicles. The service center may be independent or associated with a dealership. Dealership service centers may provide automotive service and repair for the carline sold by the dealership and possibly other vehicle carlines. To certain customers, dealership service centers may be more attractive than independent service centers because the dealerships are usually familiar with the customer's vehicle, they offer factory-trained technicians, and original factory parts are usually quickly available. In addition, repairs or other service performed on the vehicle under a manufacturers warranty usually must be performed by an authorized dealership service center.
Automotive dealerships and their service center are in a highly competitive market, both within their own carline and among all carlines. In the U.S. market as a whole, there are over 25,000 new car and truck franchises and more than 160,000 aftermarket repair facilities, according to U.S. Government Census statistics. There are estimates that these employ around 590,000 service technicians. Worldwide, new car dealerships are estimated to number about 73,000, heavy truck dealers 3,200, repair shops 448,000, and tire dealers 48,000.
In the service and repair market, both dealerships and independent repair facilities, face the competitive pressure of improving customer satisfaction in order expand or in some instances, to retain market share. Typically, service centers seek to maximize customer satisfaction by providing customers with all their service needs in a timely and cost effective manner. In addition, a typical service center may try to provide a broad range of services and products to customers in an effort to provide increased customer satisfaction and increased market share.
Automotive service centers may also be a significant source of income for the dealership and offer many business opportunities to attract and maintain customers. However, many of these service centers do not offer a complete range of services and products to their customers leaving them open to explore further business opportunities. One such business opportunity is the retail and service of tires.
Tires are a $22 billion dollar retail business in the United States. Tire sales are also highly profitable and offer a high return on investment. A large percentage of consumers purchase tires if such sale is recommended by an automotive professional. A service center that sells and installs tires, offers an opportunity to capitalize on more customer pay visits, to sell additional parts and services, to increase customer loyalty and to increase profits.
Many factors may influence a consumer's decision to replace the tires on their vehicle. For instance, many tires are accompanied by a warranty expressed in a certain number of miles (e.g., 40,000 miles, 60,000 miles, 85,000 miles). Consumers may replace their tires when the warranty has or is about to expire. Others may replace their tires at some arbitrary mileage, after a certain period of time, because of damage to one or more of the tires, because of a reduced price on tires (e.g., a sale), or for other reasons. However, safety is one of the leading reasons why tires are replaced and tread depth is a key factor in determining an appropriate replacement time and tire safety.
Tire tread provides the gripping action and traction preventing a vehicle from slipping and sliding. In general, tires are not safe and should be replaced when the tread is worn down to about 3/32nd of an inch or lower. Tires have built-in treadwear indicators that let a motorist know when they should be replaced. These indicators are raised sections spaced intermittently in the bottom of the tread grooves and are visible when a tire tread is worn down to 2/32nd of an inch. When they appear even with the outside of the tread, it is time to replace the tire.
Nine percent of passenger cars are being driven on at least one “bald” tire, according to a 2001 survey conducted by U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This survey considered a tire to be “bald”, if the tire had 1/16th of an inch or less of tread depth. This definition of “bald” may be used to estimate the tread depth of a tire that is in need of replacement. For instance, if a tire is considered to be bald at 1/16th of an inch, replacement of tires should occur on tires having a tread depth of lower than about 3/32nd of an inch.
The present invention relates to a system and method for evaluating the potential opportunities related to the potential sale and service of tires, estimating a business plan for automotive dealerships to sell tires directly to customers and implementing such a business plan. In addition, the present invention provides for, as part of the method of the present invention, certain business information collected from the car dealership which is used in the calculation of the tire sales and saving information.